3DS sets Amazon.co.uk pre-order record

The Nintendo 3DS is Amazon.co.uk's most pre-ordered console of all time.

It overtook Sony's PlayStation 3, which launched in March 2007 in the UK.

The 3DS has 20 per cent more pre-orders than the PS3 managed by launch date and 56 per cent more than the Nintendo Wii secured by its 2006 launch.

It has also beat Amazon.co.uk's pre-orders for any other DS console. It has 255 per cent more pre-orders than the DSi managed in 2009.

"It's unusual for a handheld console to attract this amount of excitement in the run up to launch, such high levels of interest are normally reserved for the play-at-home hardware like the ground-breaking Nintendo Wii and last year's Microsoft Kinect," Amazon's director of video games Chris Poad said.

"Nintendo 3DS is launching at a time when interest in all things 3D is incredibly high and with the promise of real 3D graphics without glasses, it's a real breakthrough in handheld video game entertainment."

Here's Amazon.co.uk's top five most pre-ordered consoles/gaming hardware of all-time list:

Nintendo 3DS – launching 25th March 2011

PlayStation 3 – launched March 2007

Nintendo Wii – launched December 2006

Microsoft Kinect – launched November 2010

PlayStation Move – launched September 2010

Retailers have told Eurogamer the UK should have enough 3DS launch stock to go around - but GAME warned that if excitement builds then sell-outs are a real possibility.

Around 185,000 3DS handhelds are being allocated to the UK, which seems to be the most generous slice in Europe.